Arrigo Sacchi
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arrigo Sacchi | ||
| Date of birth | 1 April 1946 | ||
| Place of birth | Fusignano, Italy | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1964–1977 | Fusignano CF | ||
| 1977–1979 | Bellaria | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1985–1987 | Parma | ||
| 1987–1991 | Milan | ||
| 1991–1996 | Italy | ||
| 1996–1997 | Milan | ||
| 1998–1999 | Atlético Madrid | ||
| 2001 | Parma | ||
| 2004–2005 | Real Madrid (Director of Football) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Arrigo Sacchi (Italian pronunciation: [arˈriːɡo ˈsakki]; born 1 April 1946 in Fusignano) is an Italian retired football coach. He was twice manager of A.C. Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European football by winning back to back European Cups in 1989 and 1990. To this day, Milan are the last team that became European champions and successfully defended their title in the following season. From 1991 to 1996 he was head coach of Italy and led them to the World Cup Final in 1994, only to lose to Brazil in a penalty shoot-out. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded to be one of the greatest club sides to ever play the game, and by some to be the greatest of all time. In January 2017, Sacchi was named among the 10 greatest coaches since the foundation of UEFA in 1954.
Sacchi was never a professional football player (he had played as a part-time footballer in amateur clubs for some years) and for many years worked as a shoe salesman. This led to his famous quote directed at those who questioned his qualifications: "I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first".
Sacchi had grown up watching attacking sides, such as Budapest Honvéd, Real Madrid, Brazil and the Netherlands. He started his career managing his local club, Baracca Lugo, because he wasn't good enough to play for them. Of the challenge he faced, Sacchi said "I was twenty-six, my goalkeeper was thirty-nine and my centre-forward was thirty-two. I had to win them over". He next coached at Bellaria before joining A.C. Cesena, who were in the Serie B as a youth team coach. He then took over at Rimini who were playing in the Serie C1, and almost led them to a title. He got his breakthrough when he moved to Fiorentina as a youth coach. His achievements with the youth team earned interest from Parma A.C. who were in Serie C1. He got Parma promoted in his first season, and in the following season took them to within 3 points of promotion to Serie A. However, of greater importance to his time at Parma was the team's performance in the Coppa Italia; they beat A.C. Milan 1–0 in the group stages, and beat them again 1–0 on aggregate in the first knockout round. This was enough to attract interest from Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi, who promptly appointed Sacchi as manager.
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